Fractional handpiece with a passively q-switched laser assembly

ABSTRACT

A fractional handpiece and systems thereof for skin treatment include a passively Q-switched laser assembly operatively connected to a pump laser source to receive a pump laser beam having a first wavelength and a beam splitting assembly operable to split a solid beam emitted by the passively Q-switched laser assembly and form an array of micro-beams across a segment of skin. The passively Q-switched laser assembly generates a high power sub-nanosecond pulsed laser beam having a second wavelength.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/884,708 filed May 27, 2020, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present system relates to a passively Q-switched laser packaged in ahandpiece and in particular to laser systems with a fractional handpiecewith a passively Q-switched laser assembly and a beam splittingassembly.

BACKGROUND

Typically, systems for non-invasive treatment of skin disorders includea cabinet into which a laser is placed and a beam delivery system(typically an optical fiber or an articulated arm) connected to ahandpiece that conducts the laser radiation from the laser to a segmentof skin to be treated. The functionality of such a system is limited bythe capabilities of the selected laser. Treatment of skin imperfectionsusually requires more than one type of laser and frequently more thanone type of laser is placed in the cabinet. This increases size, costand complexity of the system.

Treatment of some skin imperfections requires significant laser power(tens and even hundreds of MW) that in order to prevent skin damage issupplied in ultrashort pulses (most commonly in picosecond regime). Suchlaser power is difficult to transfer through a fiber and use of anarticulated arm significantly limits the freedom of the caregiver.

A typical Q-switched microcavity laser consists of a laser medium and asaturable absorber as a passive Q-switcher positioned very close eachother. The cavity length is managed to be as short as possible.Q-switched microcavity lasers are small solid-state lasers with linearshort cavity. The typical cavity length is on the order of millimeter.The short cavity lengths result in extremely short cavity lifetimes, andthe possibility of much shorter Q-switched pulses. It has beendemonstrated that Q-switched microcavity lasers can produce outputpulses on a subnanosecond regime. In some special cases (i.e.,monolithic cavity), the pulse duration can be, as short as largemode-locked lasers produce with peak powers of about 10 KW, similar tocommercially available large Q-switched systems produce.

Over decades, a lot of effort has been put in places striving forgeneration of high energy picosecond lasers. Many techniques have beendeveloped. These techniques commonly involve multi-stage configurations,i.e., a low energy picosecond seed laser, for example nJ or μJ are fedinto amplification stages (including regenerative amplifier or/andmulti-pass amplifications). Such multi-stage configurations requirecomplex optical arrangement and sophisticated electronic synchronizationfurther increasing the complexity and cost of the system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed incolor. Copies of this patent or patent application with color drawing(s)will be provided by the Office by request and payment of the necessaryfee.

For a more complete understanding of this disclosure and its features,reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunctionwith accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals denote likeelements:

FIG. 1 is an example of a system having a pump source, pump laserdelivery unit, and a subnanosecond fractional handpiece;

FIG. 2A is an example of a fractional handpiece with a passivelyQ-switched laser assembly and a beam splitting assembly;

FIG. 2B is an example of a fractional handpiece with a pump lasersource, a passively Q-switched laser assembly, and a beam splittingassembly;

FIG. 2C is an example 1064 nm handpiece;

FIG. 2D is an example 532 nm handpiece;

FIG. 2E is an example 1064 nm handpiece with a homogenizer in the pumpbeam path;

FIG. 2F is an example 532 nm handpiece with a homogenizer in the pumpbeam path;

FIG. 3A is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with amonolithic cavity;

FIG. 3B is an example of a monolithic cavity;

FIG. 3C is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with amonolithic cavity and a homogenizer in the pump beam path;

FIG. 4 is an example illustrating the bonding of laser medium andsaturable absorber of a microchip laser;

FIG. 5A is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with acavity with two external cavity mirrors;

FIG. 5B is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with acavity with one external cavity mirror (output coupler);

FIG. 5C is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with acavity with one external cavity mirror (high reflector);

FIG. 5D is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with acavity formed by one monolithic rod and two external cavity mirrors;

FIG. 5E is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with acavity formed by a monolithic rod and one external output coupler;

FIG. 5F is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with acavity formed by one monolithic rod and one external high reflector;

FIG. 5G is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with acavity with two external cavity mirrors and a homogenizer in the pumpbeam path;

FIG. 5H is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with acavity with one external cavity mirror (output coupler) and ahomogenizer in the pump beam path;

FIG. 5I is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with acavity with one external cavity mirror (high reflector) and ahomogenizer in the pump beam path;

FIG. 5J is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with acavity formed by one monolithic rod and two external cavity mirrors anda homogenizer in the pump beam path;

FIG. 5K is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with acavity formed by a monolithic rod and one external output coupler and ahomogenizer in the pump beam path;

FIG. 5L is an example of a passively Q-switched laser assembly with acavity formed by one monolithic rod and one external high reflector anda homogenizer in the pump beam path;

FIG. 6 is an example of a fractional handpiece with a second harmonicgeneration assembly;

FIG. 7A is an example beam splitting assembly;

FIG. 7B is an example output of a 1-D solid beam splitter and aresulting scan of the micro-dot array.

FIG. 7C is an example output of a 1-D donut beam splitter and aresulting scan of the micro-dot array.

FIG. 7D is an example of a 2-D microbeam pattern generated with thecombination of a pair of scanning mirrors and a lens array.

FIG. 7E is an example of subnanosecond laser beams incident on amicrolens array with a pair of scanning mirrors

FIG. 7F is an example of 2-D microbeam pattern generated with the setupshown in FIG. 7D.

FIG. 8A is an example of a sparse fractional skin treatment pattern;

FIG. 8B is an example of a denser fractional skin treatment pattern;

FIG. 9A is an example of laser system with a fractional handpiece with aroller for fractional skin treatment;

FIG. 9B is an example of laser system with a fractional handpiece withsecond harmonic generation and a roller for fractional skin treatment;

FIG. 10 is an example of laser system with a fractional handpiece with ascanning mirror for fractional skin treatment;

FIG. 11 is another example of a fractional handpiece for fractional skintreatment;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an exemplary method of skin treatment bydelivering sub-nanosecond laser pulses to a patient in need thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration,where appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among thedifferent figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. Inaddition, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide athorough understanding of the examples described herein. However, itwill be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that theexamples described herein can be practiced without these specificdetails. In other instances, methods, procedures and components have notbeen described in detail so as not to obscure the related relevantfeature being described. Also, the description is not to be consideredas limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein. The drawingsare not necessarily to scale and the proportions of certain parts may beexaggerated to better illustrate details and features of the presentdisclosure.

Several definitions that apply throughout the above disclosure will nowbe presented. The term “coupled” is defined as connected, whetherdirectly or indirectly through intervening components, and is notnecessarily limited to physical connections. The connection can be suchthat the objects are permanently connected or releasably connected. Theterm “substantially” is defined to be essentially conforming to theparticular dimension, shape or other word that substantially modifies,such that the component need not be exact. The terms “comprising,”“including” and “having” are used interchangeably in this disclosure.The terms “comprising,” “including” and “having” mean to include, butnot necessarily be limited to the things so described.

Disclosed herein is a system having a subnanosecond fractional handpiecewith a passively Q-switched laser assembly and a method to implement thefractional handpiece. As shown in FIG. 1 , the system 10 may include apump laser source 12, a pump laser delivery unit 14, and the fractionalhandpiece 16.

In an example, the pump laser source 12 may be located in a cabinet. Thepump laser source 12 may be any pump laser operable to provide energy tostart the passively Q-switched laser in the handpiece to generate highenergy (>1 mJ) short pulses in a subnanosecond regime. For example, thepump laser may be operable to generate picosecond laser pulses with highpeak power of about 100 MW and higher when used in combination with thefractional handpiece. The pump laser source may be a laser emittingwavelength at which the laser rod has enough absorption. For example,for an Nd:YAG laser, the pump laser wavelength may be within one ofthree wavelength bands, i.e., 735-760 nm, 795-820 nm, or 865-885 nm. Thepump laser may be a solid state laser or diode laser. Non-limitingexamples of pump lasers include an Alexandrite laser (755 nm), aTi:Sapphire laser, a diode laser, a dye laser, an optical parametricoscillator (OPO), and an optical parameter amplifier (OPA). Ti:Sapphiremay be used to generate laser beams in the wavelength range between700-900 nm via direct emission pumped in the visual wavelength region.In an example, an Alexandrite laser may provide over 1 kW pumping powerfor higher pulse energy generation. The high pumping power facilitatesenergy storage that is further facilitated by use of a saturableabsorber of low initial transmission.

The pump laser delivery unit 14 may be operable to deliver the pumplaser to the fractional handpiece for pumping the passively Q-switchedlaser. In some examples, the pump laser delivery unit may be anarticulated arm which is an assembly of a number of mirrors andmechanical levers or arms connected between them by rotary joints. In anexample, the articulated arm may have a plurality of arms (elbows) and aplurality of mirrors operable to direct the laser beam to a desiredpoint on the fractional handpiece by rotation around at least one rotaryjoint connecting the plurality of arms. In an example, the plurality ofmirrors is operable to preserve incident laser beam polarization, whichmay be useful for efficient pumping of anisotropic laser material (i.e.,Nd:YAP and Nd:YLF). In additional examples, the pump laser deliveryunity may include fiber optics and be delivered by an optical fiber. Theoptical fiber may a single mode fiber, multimode fiber, or hollow corefiber.

As seen in FIG. 2A, the fractional handpiece 16 may include a passivelyQ-switched laser assembly 18 and a beam splitting assembly 20. Thefractional handpiece is operable to generate high energy (>10 mJ)subnanosecond laser pulses and subsequently deliver those pulses totreatment sites (i.e., the skin) with a fractionated pattern. Thefractional handpiece receives the pump laser delivered by the pump laserdelivery unit to pump the passively Q-switched laser to generate highenergy (>10 mJ) subnanosecond pulses. The generated subnanosecond laseris then split by the beam splitting assembly into a microdot array thatis delivered to the skin for fractional treatment.

The dimensions of the passively Q-switched laser assembly allow it to becontained and mounted within the fractional handpiece body therebyreducing the size and complexity of the total system and improving thepower utilization efficiency. The fractional handpiece may then be usedin different applications and in particular for skin disorderstreatment. The fractional handpiece body may be of a reasonable size andweight that easily fits within a user's hand and may be carried with ahand. The fractional handpiece may be less than or equal to 35 cm inlength. In at least one example, the handpiece body may have a shapethat facilitates it being held like a pencil. In other examples, thehandpiece body may include a pistol grip that facilitates the handpiecebody being held like a pistol.

In some examples, as seen in FIG. 2B, the pump laser source 12 and/orthe pump laser delivery unit may also be small enough in size to becontained within the fractional handpiece body 16. In at least oneexample, the pump laser source 12 may be a diode laser may be locatedwithin the fractional handpiece body and is operable to directlyilluminate the passively Q-switched laser assembly.

FIG. 2C shows an example 1064 nm handpiece and FIG. 2D shows an example532 nm handpiece, each using an optical fiber pump laser deliver unit.The fractional handpiece 16 in FIG. 2C includes pump lenses 101, a seedcavity with a passively Q-switched laser assembly 18, a collimating lens24, a homogenizer 134, an attenuator 138, and a 1-D beam splittingassembly 20. The fractional handpiece 16 in FIG. 2D includes pump lenses101, a seed cavity with a passively Q-switched laser assembly 18, acollimating lens 24, a second harmonic generation assembly 300, ahomogenizer 134, an attenuator 138, and a 1-D beam splitting assembly20.

FIG. 2E shows an example 1064 nm handpiece and FIG. 2F shows an example532 nm handpiece, each using an optical fiber pump laser deliver unitand having a homogenizer in the pump beam path before passivelyQ-switched laser assembly. The fractional handpiece 16 in FIG. 2Eincludes pump lenses 101, a first homogenizer 140, a seed cavity with apassively Q-switched laser assembly 18, a collimating lens 24, a secondhomogenizer 134, an attenuator 138, and a 1-D beam splitting assembly20. The fractional handpiece 16 in FIG. 2F includes pump lenses 101, afirst homogenizer 140, a seed cavity with a passively Q-switched laserassembly 18, a collimating lens 24, a second harmonic generationassembly 300, a second homogenizer 134, an attenuator 138, and a 1-Dbeam splitting assembly 20.

The passively Q-switched laser assembly emits subnanosecond pulses at alaser power of tens and hundreds of MW. The passively Q-switched laserassembly does not require switching electronics, thereby reducing thesize and complexity of the total system and improving the powerefficiency. In addition, there is no need for interferometric control ofthe cavity dimensions, simplifying production of the device and greatlyrelaxing the tolerances on temperature control during its use. Theresult is a potentially less expensive, smaller, more robust, and morereliable Q-switched laser system with performance comparable with thatof the coupled cavity Q-switched laser. The compact short cavitypassively Q-switched laser assembly may be used for a large range ofapplications, including but not limited to high-precision ranging,robotic vision, automated production, efficient non-linear frequencyconversation including harmonic generation (second harmonic, thirdharmonic, fourth harmonic, sum frequency generation, OPO, etc.),environmental monitoring, micromachining, spectroscopy, cosmetics andmicrosurgery, skin treatment, ionization spectroscopy, automobile engineignition, and super continuum generation where the high peak power isrequired.

The fractional handpiece may be adapted to be applied to the skin of apatient and slide over the skin. In some examples, the fractionalhandpiece may hover over the skin of the patient and moved at agenerally equidistant distance from the surface of the skin. The beamsplitting assembly may be operable to generate an array of laser beamsacross a segment of skin and/or to scan a laser beam emitted by thepassively Q-switched laser assembly across a segment of skin. The beamsplitting assembly may provide a one-dimensional (1-D) or atwo-dimensional (2-D) treated skin area coverage. For example, the beamsplitting assembly may generate a fractionated microdot line beampattern. In some examples, the passively Q-Switched laser handpiece maycontain a second or higher order harmonic generator to generate anadditional laser wavelength.

Passively Q-Switched Laser Assembly

Passively Q-switched microcavity lasers with cavity lengths of about 10mm or shorter have been investigated extensively for several decades.However, most studies reported generation of less than a few millijoulepulse energy and less than 10 MW peak power. In particular, some of thelasers were only capable to produce nanosecond laser pulse duration.Most recently, it was demonstrated the generation of 12 mJ from aYb:YAG/Cr:YAG microchip laser. However, only ˜3.7 MW peak power wasachievable due to longer pulse duration (1.8 ns). Furthermore the laserhad to be operated under cryogenic condition (i.e., 77 degrees K) whichmakes practical application problematic.

Single pass pumped passively Q-switched lasers have several limitations.In order to ensure the sufficient absorption of pumping energy in thelaser material, the laser medium has to be sufficiently long, howeverlonger laser medium will lead to longer emitted pulse duration. Inaddition, at some particular pump wavelengths, the unabsorbed pump lasercan result in unwanted bleaching of saturable absorber causing failureof Q-switching operation. To overcome these above-mentioned issues, thepresent disclosure introduces a passively Q-switched laser assembly withdouble pass pumping. Double pass pumping also facilitates use of thelaser medium produced from crystals which are difficult to be doped(i.e., Nd:YAG) or have a weak absorption of laser medium at theavailable pump laser wavelength. The double pass pumping can be madepossible by applying highly reflective dielectric coating on either theoutput end of laser material or input end passive Q-switch for thecavity configuration where two materials (i.e., laser material andsaturable absorber) are separated with a small gap. In case ofmonolithic configuration, the highly reflective coating is sandwiched inbetween laser material and saturable absorber, while two materials arebonded together. The double pass pumped short cavity laser supportsefficient pump laser absorption and shorter medium length leading toshorter pulse duration as well as a more compact laser layout.

The present disclosure describes a short cavity passively Q-switchedlaser assembly for producing a sub-nanosecond laser pulse with high peakpower exceeding 100 MW. The operation of the laser is based on passivelyQ-switching, in which a passive component acts as a Q-switcher for sakeof compact and low-cost design.

The passively Q-switched laser assembly with double pass pumping offersadvantage over that with single pass pumping by generating much shorterpulses due to the shorter laser material used. This is because of theQ-switched pulse duration is roughly proportional to the cavity length.Furthermore, for a crystal with low doping concentration or lowabsorption at pumping laser wavelength, double pass pumping makes itpossible to obtain sufficient pump laser absorption while maintainingshorter crystal length leading to a more compact laser design. Thepassively Q-switched laser assembly may reduce the cavity length sincethere is no need to introduce bulky active component(s). In someexamples, the passively Q-switched laser assembly may use a highly dopedlaser material and/or a saturable absorber, resulting in shortermaterial lengths.

The passively Q-switched laser assembly may include two functionalgroups: pump lenses and a laser cavity. Pump lenses are operable todirect the pump laser into the laser crystal of the laser cavity withcertain spot size. The choice of pumping spot is under the tradeoffbetween available pumping energy and large spot size. The larger spotsize leads to higher energy while requiring higher pumping energy toenable Q-switching. The laser cavity enables passively Q-switching togenerate subnanosecond laser pulses. The laser cavity may be amonolithic cavity or a cavity with external cavity mirror(s).

Monolithic Cavity

In a monolithic cavity, the laser medium and saturable absorber aresandwiched with a highly reflective dielectric coating at pumpingwavelength and bonded with optical contact by intermolecular forces. Thehighly reflective dielectric coating supports achieving double passingpumping and avoids unwanted bleaching of a passive Q-switch byunabsorbed pump laser.

A passively Q-switched laser assembly with a monolithic cavity 100 andpump lenses 101 is shown in FIG. 3A. FIG. 3B shows the monolithic cavity100 may include a laser medium 104, a highly reflective dielectriccoating 108 for pumping laser wavelength sandwiched in between lasermedium 104 and a saturable absorber 112. FIG. 3C shows the passivelyQ-switched laser assembly 18 may include a homogenizer 140 between thepump lenses 101 and the monolithic cavity 100. FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C alsoshow a pump laser beam 116 and an output beam 120. The pump laser beam116 may be, for example a beam with a wavelength of about 755 nm to pumpa monolithic microchip laser including Nd:YAG as laser medium andCr⁴⁺:YAG as saturable absorber. Highly reflective dielectric coating 108(highly reflecting at pump laser wavelength, about 755 nm and highlytransmitting Q-switched laser wavelength, 1064 nm)) supports achievingdouble passing pumping and avoids unwanted bleaching of passive Q-switch112 by unabsorbed pump laser leaking through it. Other pumpingwavelengths may be used, including but not limited to diode lasersoperating at 800-820 nm, or other types of solid-state emitting laser atabout 800-820 nm (i.e., Ti:Sapphire).

At the input end 124 of the monolithic cavity 100, the surface of lasermaterial 104 may be coated with a highly reflective at the laserwavelength (e.g., 1064 nm dielectric coating) and highly transmissive atpump wavelength. At the output end 128 of the monolithic cavity 100, thesurface of passive Q-switch 112 may be deposited with dielectric coatingpartially reflective at the monolithic cavity 100 output beamwavelength. The coating 108 considers the refractive indices of lasermedium and saturable absorber such that the coating functions asrequired when the monolithic material is formed. These two ends (124 and128) may be arranged to be parallel and coated with dielectric coating,allowing laser oscillation occurs. The two ends may be flat surfaces orcurved surfaces with curvatures operable to achieve better modeselectivity.

Diffusion bonding is commonly used to bond laser material and passiveQ-switching element (e.g. a saturable absorber) to form passivelyQ-switched microchip laser. This method is typically accomplished at anelevated pressure and temperature, approximately 50-70% of the absolutemelting temperature of the placed in contact materials. Such fabricationprocess involves elevated temperature and makes it difficult to depositany form of dielectric coating in between two elements (e.g., lasermedium and passive Q-switcher), in particular, highly reflective coatingat pump laser wavelength. Therefore, single pass pumping can be onlyapplied.

In the current disclosure, the bonding between laser medium 104 andsaturable absorber 112 may be implemented as illustrated by arrows 103through optical contact by intermolecular forces, such as Van der Waalsforces, hydrogen bonds, and dipole-dipole interactions, as shown in FIG.4 . No elevated temperature and pressure are needed so that integrity ofreflective dielectric coating 108 is protected.

The two surfaces of being contacted i.e., 105 of laser medium 104 and113 of saturable absorber 112 are processed in optical quality toachieve stable optical contact. The highly reflective dielectric coatingat an interface between laser medium 104 and saturable absorber 112 atpump wavelength supports achieving double passing pumping and avoidsunwanted bleaching of passive Q-switch by unabsorbed pump laser.Generally, the surface quality may be better than 20-10 scratch-dig. Theflatness and roughness may be at least λ/4 10 A rms or better,respectively.

Laser medium 104 may be an Nd doped crystal. The host material may beYAG, YAP, YLF crystals or ceramic. Non-limiting examples of the lasermedium include crystals (i.e., Nd:YAG, Nd:YAP, Nd:YLF), or Nd:YAGceramic. Saturable absorber 112 may be Chromium (Cr⁴⁺) doped crystals(i.e., YAG) or ceramic YAG. The materials for the laser medium andsaturable absorber may be of the same host material or of differentmaterials. In some examples, the laser medium and saturable absorber maybe same host material (i.e., crystal or ceramic) or monolithiccomposited ceramic and crystal. This is quite different from theexisting microchip lasers bonded through diffusion methods where thematerial physical properties (i.e., melting point, thermal expansioncoefficient, etc.) for the two components should be similar.

The high energy/high peak power ultrashort pulse microchip laserfacilitates efficient non-linear frequency conversation includingharmonic generation (second harmonic, third harmonic, fourth harmonic,sum frequency generation, OPO, etc.) and super continuum generationwhere the high peak power is required. In contrast to the existing lowenergy microchip laser, the high energy microchip laser can providehigher energy/power at frequency converted wavelengths thereforesignificantly increase measurement precision by improving signal tonoise ratio. Most importantly, the optical arrangement is very compactand simple and supports mounting of the microchip laser in constrainedspace for example, in a handpiece.

Cavity with External Mirrors

In a cavity with external mirrors, the laser cavity is configured to bea linear cavity with a cavity length shorter than 10 mm for achievingcompactness and short pulse generation. In some examples, the cavitylength may be less than 10 mm, less than 8 mm, or less than 5 mm. Thelaser cavity is intended to generate a sub-nanosecond pulsed laser beam.The sub-nanosecond laser pulse may be less than 1000 ps. In variousexamples, the sub-nanosecond laser pulse may be range from 150 ps toless than 1000 ps, about 200 ps to about 400 ps, about 300 ps to about500 ps, about 400 ps to about 600 ps, or about 500 ps to about 1000 ps.The sub-nanosecond laser may have a wavelength of about 1 μm (i.e., 1064nm for Nd:YAG, 1080 nm for Nd:YAP, 1047/1053 nm for Nd:YLF).

A passively Q-switched laser assembly 18 with at least one externalmirror laser cavity 200 and pump lenses 101 is shown in FIGS. 5A-5L. Theexternal mirror laser cavity may include one or more external cavitymirrors. In at least one example, the laser cavity may include twoexternal cavity mirrors. In another example, the passively Q-switchedlaser assembly 18 may include at least one homogenizer placed in thepump beam path, as seen in FIGS. 5G-5L.

In particular, FIG. 5A shows the external mirror cavity 200 may includea pair of cavity mirrors forming resonator (i.e., high reflector (HR)202 and output coupler (OC) 204), a gain medium 206, and a saturableabsorber 208 acting as a passive Q-switcher. Also shown in FIGS. 5A-5Fis a pump laser beam 116 and an output beam 120. The pump laser beam 116may be, for example a beam with a wavelength of about 755 nm. Otherpumping wavelengths may be used, including but not limited to diodelasers operating at 800-820 nm, or other solid-state emitting lasers at800-820 nm (e.g., Ti:Sapphire).

In some other examples, one of the cavity mirrors (i.e., high reflector202 or output coupler 204) may be replaced by depositing appropriateoptical coatings on one of the end surfaces of laser gain medium 206 orsaturable absorber 208 (see FIGS. 5B-5C and 5E-5F). The use of only oneexternal cavity mirror may help reduce the cavity length, leading toshorter pulse generation. In one example, a high reflecting coating 203may be deposited onto the input end of the laser gain medium 206 to actas high reflector while leaving output coupler 204 as one externalmirror (FIG. 5B). In another example, only an external high reflector202 may be included while a partially reflective coating 205 may bedeposited onto the output end of the saturable absorber to perform thefunction of an output coupler (FIG. 5C).

In some examples, laser gain medium 206 may be bonded with saturableabsorber 208 as one physical element for shortening cavity length,leading to shorter pulse duration, as seen in FIGS. 5D-5F. Differentfrom the typical monolithic cavity, this monolithic element is coatedwith AR coatings at laser wavelength on both ends. In addition, thecoatings on the input end of this monolithic crystal may be highlytransmissive at pump laser wavelength. Similar to the typical monolithiccavity, the laser medium and the saturable absorber are sandwiched withcoatings which are highly reflective at the pump wavelength (i.e., firstwavelength) and highly transmitting at the laser wavelength (i.e.,second wavelength). In various examples, the high reflective coating 203may be deposited onto the input end of the laser gain medium 206, actingas high reflector while a separate mirror with partially reflectivecoating acting as an output coupler 204 (FIG. 5E). In other examples,the saturable absorber 208 output end may be coated with a partiallyreflective coating acting as output coupler 205 while a separate HRmirror 202 may be present for optimizing cavity alignment (FIG. 5F). Allthese configurations may help in reducing cavity length, which maysupport shorter pulse generation and simplify the design.

In some examples, the passively Q-switched laser assembly 18 may includeat least one homogenizer 140. FIGS. 5G-5L show the laser assemblies ofFIGS. 5A-5F, respectively, with a homogenizer 140 placed in the pumpbeam path. For example, the homogenizer 140 may be located after thepump lenses 101, prior to the beam entering the high reflector 202, theoutput coupler (OC) 204), the gain medium 206, and/or the saturableabsorber 208.

Instead of using a wavelength tuning element in the cavity, thewavelength selectivity may be implemented with high damage thresholdoptical surface coatings directly deposited on the end surfaces of thecavity mirrors with specific spectral requirements. The high reflector(HR) cavity mirror 202 may be coated to be highly transmitting at pumplaser wavelength and highly reflective at laser wavelength (R≥99%)(e.g., 1064 nm for Nd:YAG). The output coupler (OC) cavity mirror may becoated with a partially reflective coating at laser wavelength.

The laser gain medium 206 may include one or more crystals. In someexamples, the laser gain medium may be a laser crystal or a ceramicmaterial. Non-limiting examples of crystals are Nd:YAG (neodymium-dopedyttrium aluminum garnet), Nd:YAP (Neodymium doped yttrium aluminumperovskite), or Nd:YLF (neodymium-doped yttrium lithium fluoride). In atleast one example, the laser gain medium 206 may be rare-earth ion dopedceramic material, such as ceramic Nd:YAG. The front surface of the lasergain medium 206 may by coated with an anti-reflective coating. The backsurface of the laser gain medium 206 may be coated with a highlyreflective dielectric coating at pump laser wavelength to supportachieving double passing pumping and to avoid unwanted bleaching ofpassive Q-switch by unabsorbed pump laser. Double pass pumping geometrysupports sufficient pump laser absorption and shorter medium lengthleading to a more compact laser layout and shorter pulse duration.

The saturable absorber 208 may act as a passive Q-switcher to implementQ-switching to generate sub-nanosecond laser pulses near 1 μm.Non-limiting examples of the saturable absorber are a Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal,a ceramic Cr⁴⁺:YAG, GaAs, or a semiconductor saturable absorber.

Second Harmonic Generation Assembly

FIG. 6 is an example of a fractional handpiece 16 with a second harmonicgeneration assembly 300 between the passively Q-switched laser assembly18 and the beam splitting assembly 20. The laser wavelength out of thepassively Q-switched cavity may be converted to other wavelengthsthrough non-linear frequency generation. In some examples, the secondharmonic generation assembly 300 may include a frequency doublingcrystal 304, a dichroic mirror 306, and a beam dump 308. In an example,the frequency doubling crystal may generate a second harmonic wavelengthin the visible wavelength for enhancing melanin absorption.

In some examples, the frequency doubling crystal 304 may be a secondharmonic generation crystal (SHG). Non-limiting examples of frequencydoubling crystals include lithium niobate (LiNbO₃), potassium titanylphosphate (KTP=KTiOPO₄), lithium triborate (LBO=LiB₃O₅), or any otherSHG crystals. For generation of a stable linearly polarized Q-switchedlaser, specially cut Nd:YAG (i.e. [100], or/and Cr⁴⁺:YAG (i.e., [110]cut) may be used.

The dichroic mirror may be operable for transmitting the second harmoniclaser while rejecting the residual fundamental wavelength. For example,the frequency doubling crystal 304 receives output beam 120 from thepassively Q-switched laser assembly and transforms it into two beams—onebeam 320 maintaining the original wavelength (frequency) of the outputbeam 120 and a beam 312 having a frequency two times higher than theoutput beam 120. In at least one example, the output beam 120 has awavelength of 1064 nm, and the beam with the doubled frequency has awavelength of 532 nm. The dichroic mirror 306 may be a beam splitterthat splits and directs beams 320 and 312 in different directions. Thebeam maintaining the original wavelength 320 may be directed to the beamdump 308. In an example, the beam dump is used to block the rejectedfundamental wavelength laser. The output beam of the second harmonicgeneration assembly 312 may then be passed into the beam splittingassembly 20.

Handpiece

One of potential and promising applications for the passively Q-switchedlaser assembly producing subnanosecond laser pulses may be in cosmeticand medical laser systems. The high energy short pulse passivelyQ-switched laser assembly supports packaging of the passively Q-switchedlaser assembly into a handpiece to perform meaningful aesthetictreatment and in particular fractional skin rejuvenation. It has beendemonstrated clinically that for laser pulses of a few hundredpicosecond with ˜mJ per laser beam is sufficient enough to cause tissueor skin micro-injury through laser induced optical breakdown (LIOB) ormelanin assistant optical breakdown. The subsequent collagen remodelingstimulated by such micro-injury will result in skin rejuvenation. Thecurrent passively Q-switched laser assembly is capable of generatingmore than 40 mJ˜300 ps laser pulses with wavelength of 1064 nm.Therefore, the output energy from the passively Q-switched laserassembly may be split into a plurality of micro-beams using a beamsplitting assembly 20. For example, the beam from the passivelyQ-switched laser assembly may be split into at least 2 micro-beams, atleast 5 micro-beams, at least 10 micro-beams, at least 15 micro-beams,or at least 30 micro beams. Other numbers of micro-beams arecontemplated. Each micro-beam may have up to 4 mJ of laser energy whichis sufficient for effective skin treatment for the case of 10micro-beams. Each of the micro-beams may be focused by a lens in thebeam splitting assembly to generate a plurality of micro-dots.

Skin treatment usually requires irradiation of a two-dimensional skinarea. Fractional skin treatment may use micro-beams or fractional beamswith scanning mirrors or other scanning means. There are a number ofapproaches to implement two-dimensional micro-beam patterns. Forexample, the laser beam may be split into a one-dimensional array ofmicro-beams and the one-dimensional array of micro-beams may be manuallyslid over the skin. Another approach may use a scanning system to scanthe array of micro-beams in one or two directions/axes.

FIG. 7A shows an example 1-D beam splitting assembly 20 with a 1-D beamsplitter 126 and a focusing lens 130. The beam splitting assembly 20 isdesigned to split the incoming one solid beam 120 into an array ofmultiple micro-beams 122 with a combination of the 1-D beam splitter 126and the focusing lens 130. In some examples, the 1-D beam splitter maybe a 1-D diffractive optical beam splitter or a scanner.

The micro-beam size in the focal plane may be in the range of about 10μm to about 300 μm in diameter. In various examples, the micro-beam sizemay be up to 10 μm, up to 20 μm, up to 50 μm, up to 100 μm, up to 150μm, up to 200 μm, up to 250 μm, or up to 300 μm in diameter. In someexamples, the micro-beam may have a diameter in the focal plane rangingfrom about 10 μm to about 50 μm, about 25 μm to about 75 μm, about 50 μmto about 100 μm, about 75 μm to about 125 μm, about 100 μm to about 150μm, about 125 μm to about 175 μm, about 150 μm to about 200 μm, about200 μm to about 250 μm, or about 250 μm to about 300 μm.

The split beam may be solid micro-dot or donut shape (i.e., dotsurrounded with a ring). For example, the 1-D beam splitting assemblymay include an axicon diffractive optic to form a ring or donut shapedbeam, a 1-D beam splitter, and a focusing lens. FIG. 7B shows an exampleoutput of a 1-D solid beam splitter and a resulting scan of themicro-dot array. FIG. 7C shows an example output of a 1-D donut beamsplitter and a resulting scan of the micro-dot array. The donut shapedbeam array helps increase surface coverage to reduce the number ofpasses for treatment.

In other examples, the subnanosecond laser generated from the passivelyQ-switched laser assembly may be directed to a lens array to formfractionated microbeams by a pair of scanning mirrors. FIG. 7D shows anexample beam splitting assembly 20 with a pair of scanning mirrors, e.g.galvanometer driven mirrors (Galvo mirrors) 904 and 908 that project orscan laser beam 120 onto a lens array 912. In some examples, a firstscanning mirror 904 may provide in-plane rotation and a second scanningmirror 908 may provide out of plane rotation, while lens array 912splits laser beam 120 into a plurality of fractionated micro-beams. Thecombination of a pair of scanning mirrors and lens array optic maygenerate microdot array with large surface coverage. The movement of twoscanning mirrors can direct the incident beam across the lens arraysurface in 2-dimensions to increase surface coverage. To avoid theoverlap of the scanning spots or leave spare untreated area, thescanning may be appropriately programmed so that the spots projected onthe lens array after one scanning cycle are next to each other. In atleast one example, passively Q-switched laser energy is high enough sothat each laser beam from the subnanosecond laser can cover multiplelenslets to generate multiple micro-dots with sufficient energy permicrodot for meaningful treatment. The scanning mirror pair may scan thelaser beam to form a 2-D pattern and cover a larger area of lenslets, asshown in FIG. 7E. After the scanning system completes one cycle, a 2-Dmicro-dot array may be generated in the skin with larger surfacecoverage, as seen in FIG. 7F. The scanning of the incident subnanosecondlaser beam may be in sequence or in random order.

For 1-D beam splitting, the speed of scanning may affect the density orcoverage of the micro-dot array across the treatment area. The generatedline of multiple micro-beams may be extended to a two-dimensionalmicro-beam array by manually sliding the handpiece along the directionperpendicular to the line of the micro-dots guided with a positionalsensor or scanning the line of microdots with a scanner. In someexamples, the positional sensor may include one or more rollers, one ormore accelerometers, or combinations thereof. For example, as seen inFIG. 8A, manual movement of the fractional handpiece in a directionperpendicular to the 1-D fractionated micro-dot line 704 as shown byarrow 708 may generate a 2-D fractional beam pattern 712. In someexamples, operation of the passively Q-switched laser may be triggeredand synchronized by the roller(s) and/or accelerometer(s). Thefractional treated skin area coverage may be changed by varying thenumber of fractionated micro-dots 704 in a 1-D line and/or movementspeed of the fractionated handpiece. The movement speed of thefractionated handpiece may determine the spacing between multiplemicro-dot arrays. FIG. 8A is an example of a relatively sparsefractionated micro-dot 704 array in a 1-D line (e.g. 7 micro-dots) movedat speed 708. FIG. 8B is an example of the same density fractionatedmicro-dot 704 array in a 1-D line moved at speed 808. For example,movement speed 708 in FIG. 8A is faster than the same handpiece withmovement speed 808 in FIG. 8B. Accordingly, a denser 2-D pattern 812 offractionated micro-dots 704 is generated. Slower sliding may thereforeresult in higher coverage of the fractionated beam and faster slidingmay result in lower coverage of the fractionated beam over the treatmentarea. In some examples, the number of fractionated micro-dots in a 1-Dline may be adjusted by changing the beamsplitter. For example, thebeamsplitter may be a snap-on disposable optic tip operable to connectto the handpiece. Snap-on tips may allow routine easy cleaning of thebeamsplitter optics and offer the user different tip designs includingdifferent attenuation levels, and different micro-dot arrangements (moreor less micro-dots per column, and different micro-dot densities). Theuser may select different tips based on the number of micro-dots desiredper column or same number of micro-dots but with denser or less densemicro-dots.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show example fractional handpieces with 1-D beamsplitters in the beam splitting assembly 20 that are operable for manualmovement of the handpiece. For skin treatment, the caregiver or user maymanually slide the fractional handpiece with a 1-D beam splitter overthe treated skin area. The fractional handpiece may physically contactthe skin or may be at a distance above the surface of the skin as theuser slides the handpiece over the patient's skin. In the course of thesliding movement, the passively Q-switched laser assembly may generatesubnanosecond laser pulses forming a 1-D fractionated micro-dot line.

The fractional handpiece may include one or more positional sensors. Forexample, the positional sensor may include one or more rollers, one ormore accelerometers, or combinations thereof. In some examples, thefractional handpiece may include one or more positional rollers formanual movement of the handpiece along a direction perpendicular to the1-D fractionated micro-spot line to form a 2-D micro-spot pattern. Therollers and/or accelerometers may be used to determine when the pumplaser should be fired again. For example, as the 1-D array is movedacross the skin, the rollers may track the distance the handpiece hasmoved and signal to the pump laser source to fire again after thehandpiece has moved a set distance. The set distance may range fromabout 400 μm to about 800 μm. For example, the set distance may be about400 μm, about 500 μm, about 600 μm, about 700 μm, or about 800 μm. Therollers may also be used as a safety feature, such that when the rollerstops, the pump laser source stops. This may prevent tissue damage ifthe movement of the handpiece is stopped or paused. Alternatively, thelaser may be set to fire at a constant rate, and the rollers used tomeasure the speed of the handpiece movement across the skin surface. Theuser may receive feedback from the roller if the speed is too fast ortoo slow. For example, feedback may include lights, different colorlights, or tactile vibrations that are initiated when improper scanspeeds are triggered. The rollers may also be used to automaticallytrigger the pump laser and/or may be used to synchronize the laserpulses. In some examples, operation of the passively Q-switched lasermay be triggered and synchronized by the roller(s).

FIG. 9A is an example of a system with a fractional handpiece with oneor two rollers 118 to guide the handpiece movement and to synchronizewith laser pulsing. The one or two rollers may be operable for manuallysliding the fractional handpiece over a target area. Manually slidingthe fractional handpiece may generate a 2-D fractional beam patternguided by the one or two rollers. The fractional coverage may be changedby varying sliding speed. Slower movement leads to higher surfacecoverage.

The system 10 may include a pump laser source 12, a pump laser deliveryunit 14, a fractional handpiece 16, and a controller 22. As describedabove, the fractional handpiece 16 may include a passively Q-switchedlaser assembly 18 and a beam splitting assembly 20, which include a 1-Dbeam splitter 126 and a focusing lens 130.

The fractional handpiece 16 may further include a fast photodetector 132or some other means of sensing the sub-nanosecond laser pulse. In anexample, the photodetector may communicate with the controller to shutdown the pump laser to avoid double or multiple pulsing. In an example,laser pulsing may be synchronized with roller rotation. In someexamples, a homogenizer 134 (either diffractive based or refractivebased) may be added to the fractional handpiece before the beamsplitting array to correct the beam characteristic changes at differentrepetition rates. In other examples, a homogenizer 140 may be added tothe fractional handpiece in the pump beam path before passivelyQ-switched laser assembly to mitigate pump spot size change in the lasergain medium due to the pump beam divergence changes at differentrepetition rates as well as to avoid hot spots in the laser gain mediumdue to fiber bending. In various embodiments, the fractional handpiecemay include a first homogenizer 140, a second homogenizer 134, orcombinations thereof. The fractional handpiece may also include avibrator 136, buzzer, mechano-oscillator, or sound system to warn anoperator if there is a malfunction of the laser, such as laser missingfire. In addition, the vibrator may be used to provide tactile feedbackto help a user control their scan speed by providing feedback to theuser if the sliding speed is too slow or too fast. For example, thehandpiece may buzz or shake if it is moving too fast. In additionalexamples, the fractional handpiece 16 may further include an attenuator138 to achieve appropriate energy for the treatment of different skintypes or LIOB depth. The attenuator may a neutral density filter orpolarization based elements (such as polarizer cube). The photodetector132, the vibrator 136, positional sensor (e.g. the roller 118), and/orthe pump source laser 12 may be operatively connected to the controller22. Controller 22 is a functional electronics used to receive theelectric signals from roller 118, vibrator 136 and photo sensor 132,process them and provide feedback signal to pump laser source forcontrolling pump laser on and off. The components of the fractionalhandpiece may be small enough to be packed into the handpiece 16. Suchhandpiece 16 may be operable to generate a subnanosecond laser beam,allowing for fractional treatment for skin rejuvenation.

An optional second or higher harmonic generator 300 may be located inhandpiece body 16. FIG. 9B shows an example of the handpiece with secondharmonic generator 300. Passively Q-switched laser assembly 18 may emita beam with wavelength of 1064 nm. When additional laser lightwavelength is required, the second harmonic generator 300 may beintroduced into the laser beam path to generate an additional laserlight wavelength. Generally, other wavelength frequency multiplyingdevices may be arranged on a turret and used when required. Thetemperature of second harmonic crystal 304 may be controlled bycontroller 22 for achieving stable and optimized frequency conversion.

FIG. 10 is an example system with a fractional handpiece with a scanningmirror. In some examples, the scanning mirror may be synchronized withlaser pulsing. The system 10 may include a pump laser source 12, a pumplaser delivery unit 14, a fractional handpiece 16, and a controller 22.As described above, the fractional handpiece 16 may include a passivelyQ-switched laser assembly 18 and a beam splitting assembly 20, whichinclude a 1-D beam splitter 126 and a focusing lens 130.

The beam splitting assembly may further include a fixed mirror 144 and arotational mirror 142 which scans a line of micro-beams 122 to form a2-D micro-spot pattern. The fractional coverage can be changed byvarying scanning speed of the rotational mirror 142. In an example, therotational mirror may be a galvo-mirror operable for out of planerotation.

The fractional handpiece 16 may further include a fast photodetector 132or some other means of sensing the sub-nanosecond laser pulse whichshuts down the pump laser and avoids double or multiple pulsing. In anexample, laser pulsing may be synchronized with rotational mirrorrotation. In some examples, a homogenizer 134 (either diffractive basedor refractive based) may be added to the fractional handpiece before thebeam splitting assembly to correct the beam characteristic changes atdifferent repetition rates. In other examples, a homogenizer 140 may beadded to the fractional handpiece in the pump beam path before passivelyQ-switched laser assembly to mitigate pump spot size change in the lasergain medium due to the pump beam divergence changes at differentrepetition rates as well as to avoid hot spots in the laser gain mediumdue to fiber bending. In various embodiments, the fractional handpiecemay include a first homogenizer 140, a second homogenizer 134, orcombinations thereof. The fractional handpiece may also include avibrator 136, buzzer, mechano-oscillator, or sound system to warn anoperator if there is a malfunction of the laser, such as laser missingfire. In additional examples, the fractional handpiece 16 may furtherinclude an attenuator 138 to achieve appropriate energy for thetreatment of different skin types or LIOB depth. The attenuator may aneutral density filter or polarization-based elements (such as polarizercube). The photodetector 132, the vibrator 136, the roller 118, and/orthe pump source laser 12 may be operatively connected to the controller22, as described above. The components of the fractional handpiece maybe small enough to be packed into the handpiece 16. Such handpiece 16may be operable to generate a picosecond laser beam, allowing forfractional treatment for skin rejuvenation.

In a further example illustrated in FIG. 11 , a handpiece for fractionalskin treatment is shown, where the passively Q-switched laser assemblyincludes a monolithic cavity 610. Generation of a fractionated beampattern is produced by a combination of a pair of galvo mirrors 904 and908 that project or scan laser beam 120 onto a lens array 912. Lensarray 912 splits laser beam 120 into a plurality of micro-beams 916which may be fractionated micro-beams. Mirror 920 may be used toseparate additional wavelengths generated by the second or higherharmonic generator 304. The coating of mirror 920 is formed accordinglyto the desired wavelength separation. The unconverted infrared light 120may be directed and absorbed in a laser light beam dump 924 while theharmonics may be delivered to the treated skin segment containing acombination of skin disorders. Laser light beam dump 924 may be operableto effectively dissipate the unconverted infrared energy without gettingdamaged or causing a rise in temperature of other handpiece 900components. Passive and active cooling mechanisms can be used as need toremove heat from the laser light beam dump 924.

The example below provides some operational parameters of a typicalhandpiece used for skin disorders treatment. Energy for the output laser120 of the passively Q-switched laser assembly may be 40 mJ or more.Energy for each micro-beam 122 may be up to 4 mJ at 1064 nm and 2 mJ at532 nm.

Such laser energy is high enough so that each laser beam from thepassively Q-switched laser assembly can cover at least 9 lenslets togenerate 9 micro-dots. Galvo mirror pair 904 and 908 scans the laserbeam nine times to form a 2-D pattern and cover at least 81 lenslets.Assuming that microchip laser operates at a frequency of 20 Hz, eachscan will take 0.45 seconds ( 9/20) or the treatment can be operated upto 2.2Hz.

Further provided herein are methods for skin treatment. The method mayinclude delivering a sub-nanosecond pulsed laser beam to a patient inneed thereof using the laser system with a fractional handpiece.

Referring to FIG. 12 , a flowchart is presented in accordance with anexample embodiment. The method 1000 is provided by way of example, asthere are a variety of ways to carry out the method. The method 1000described below can be carried out using the configurations illustratedin FIGS. 1-11 , for example, and various elements of these figures arereferenced in explaining example method 1000. Each block shown in FIG.12 represents one or more processes, methods or subroutines, carried outin the example method 1000. Furthermore, the illustrated order of blocksis illustrative only and the order of the blocks can change according tothe present disclosure. Additional blocks may be added, or fewer blocksmay be utilized, without departing from this disclosure.

The example method 1000 is a method for skin treatment in a patient inneed thereof. The example method 1000 can begin at block 1002. At block1002, a pump laser source generates a pump laser beam at a firstwavelength. For example, for an Nd:YAG laser, the pump laser wavelengthmay be within one of three wavelength bands, i.e., 735-760 nm, 795-820nm, or 865-885 nm. The pump laser may be a solid state laser or diodelaser. Non-limiting examples of pump lasers include an Alexandrite laser(755 nm), a Ti:Sapphire laser, a diode laser, a dye laser, an opticalparametric oscillator (OPO), and an optical parameter amplifier (OPA).Ti:Sapphire may be used to generate laser beams in the wavelength rangebetween 700-900 nm via direct emission pumped in the visual wavelengthregion.

In a non-limiting example, a 755 nm wavelength pump laser beam may begenerated from an Alexandrite laser. In another example, a 1.053 μm or1.047 μm wavelength pump laser beam may be generated from a passivelyQ-switched Nd:YLF laser.

At block 1004, the pump laser beam is delivered to a passivelyQ-switched laser assembly in a fractional handpiece. In other examples,the pump laser source may be located within the body of the fractionalhandpiece and the pump laser beam may directly illuminate the passivelyQ-switched laser assembly.

At block 1006, the passively Q-switched laser assembly in the fractionalhandpiece generates a high power sub-nanosecond pulsed laser beam fromthe pump laser beam. In an example, the generated sub-nanosecond pulsedlaser beam has a second wavelength. The second wavelength may be avisible wavelength where melanin has substantial absorption. Some ofnon-limiting examples include 532 nm, 524 nm, or 528 nm. Thesub-nanosecond pulsed laser beam may optionally be delivered to thefractional handpiece via a laser delivery unit.

At block 1008, the sub-nanosecond pulsed laser beam having the secondwavelength is split by a beam splitting assembly to form a 1-D array ofmicro-beams.

At block 1010, the fractional handpiece is moved across the skin togenerate a 2-D fractional beam pattern on the skin of the patient. Thedelivered laser beam may be applied to a target area of the patient'sskin. The target area may be on any area of the patient's skin,including but not limited to the face, arm, leg, back, chest, hand, orfoot.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the presentdisclosure is not limited to what has been particularly shown anddescribed hereinabove. Rather, the scope of the passively Q-switchedlaser and handpiece includes both combinations and sub-combinations ofvarious features described hereinabove as well as modifications andvariations thereof which would occur to a person skilled in the art uponreading the foregoing description and which are not in the prior art.

The disclosures shown and described above are only examples. Even thoughnumerous characteristics and advantages of the present technology havebeen set forth in the foregoing description, together with details ofthe structure and function of the present disclosure, the disclosure isillustrative only, and changes may be made in the detail, especially inmatters of shape, size and arrangement of the parts within theprinciples of the present disclosure to the full extent indicated by thebroad general meaning of the terms used in the attached claims. It willtherefore be appreciated that the examples described above may bemodified within the scope of the appended claims.

Numerous examples are provided herein to enhance the understanding ofthe present disclosure. A specific set of statements are provided asfollows.

Statement 1: A fractional handpiece for skin treatment comprising: ahandpiece body comprising: a passively Q-switched laser assembly withinin the handpiece body operatively connected to a pump laser source toreceive a pump laser beam having a first wavelength, the passivelyQ-switched laser assembly comprising one or more pump lenses and a lasercavity comprising one or more external mirrors; and a beam splittingassembly operable to split a solid beam emitted by the passivelyQ-switched laser assembly and form an array of micro-beams across asegment of skin, wherein the passively Q-switched laser assemblygenerates a high power sub-nanosecond pulsed laser beam having a secondwavelength.

Statement 2: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein thehandpiece body is operable to slide over the skin of a patient.

Statement 3: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein the pumplaser beam at the first wavelength is delivered by an optical fiber oran articulated arm comprising a plurality of arms and mirrors.

Statement 4: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein the lasercavity comprises a high reflector cavity mirror, an output couplercavity mirror, a gain medium, and a saturable absorber.

Statement 5: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein the lasercavity comprises a high reflector cavity mirror, an output couplercavity mirror, and a gain medium bonded with a saturable absorber andsandwiched with a high reflective coating at the first wavelength andanti-reflective coating at the second wavelength.

Statement 6: The fractional handpiece of Statement 5, wherein an inputend of the bonded gain medium is coated with anti-reflective coating atboth first and second wavelength while an output end of bonded saturableabsorber has anti-reflective coating at second wavelength.

Statement 7: The fractional handpiece of any one of Statements 4 and 5,wherein the high reflector cavity mirror comprises a coating highlytransmissive at the first wavelength and highly reflective at the secondwavelength.

Statement 8: The fractional handpiece of any one of Statements 4 and 5,wherein the output coupler cavity mirror comprises a partiallyreflective coating at the second wavelength.

Statement 9: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein the lasercavity comprises a high reflector cavity mirror, a gain medium, and asaturable absorber, whose output end comprises partially reflectivecoating at the second wavelength to act as an output coupler.

Statement 10: The fractional handpiece of claim 1, wherein the lasercavity comprises a gain medium with an input end coated with a hightransmissive coating at the first wavelength and a high reflectivecoating at the second wavelength to act as high reflector, a saturableabsorber, and an output coupler.

Statement 11: The fractional handpiece of any one of Statements 4-10,wherein the gain medium comprises a laser crystal or a ceramic material.

Statement 12: The fractional handpiece of any one of Statements 4-10,wherein the gain medium comprises Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttriumaluminum garnet), Nd:YAP (Neodymium doped yttrium aluminum perovskite),or Nd:YLF (neodymium-doped yttrium lithium fluoride).

Statement 13: The fractional handpiece of Statement 4, wherein the gainmedium comprises an anti-reflective coating on a front surface andhighly reflective dielectric coating at the first wavelength on a backsurface.

Statement 14: The fractional handpiece of any one of Statements 4-10,wherein the saturable absorber comprises a Cr4+:YAG crystal or ceramicCr4:YAG.

Statement 15: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein the lasercavity comprises a high reflector cavity mirror and a gain medium bondedwith a saturable absorber.

Statement 16: The fractional handpiece of Statement 15, wherein the highreflector cavity mirror comprises a coating highly transmissive at thefirst wavelength and highly reflective at the second wavelength.

Statement 17: The fractional handpiece of Statement 15, wherein the gainmedium is bonded with the saturable absorber and sandwiched with a highreflective coating at the first wavelength and anti-reflective coatingat the second wavelength.

Statement 18: The fractional handpiece of Statement 15, wherein an inputend of the bonded gain medium is coated with anti-reflective coating atboth first and second wavelength while an output end of bonded saturableabsorber has a partially-reflective coating at the second wavelength toact as an output coupler.

Statement 19: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein the lasercavity comprises an output coupler cavity mirror and a gain mediumbonded with a saturable absorber.

Statement 20: The fractional handpiece of Statement 19, wherein theoutput coupler cavity mirror comprises a partially reflective coating atthe second wavelength.

Statement 21: The fractional handpiece of Statement 19, wherein the gainmedium is bonded with the saturable absorber and sandwiched with a highreflective coating at the first wavelength and an anti-reflectivecoating at the second wavelength.

Statement 22: The fractional handpiece of Statement 19, wherein an inputend of the bonded gain medium is coated with a highly reflective coatingat the second wavelength and a highly transmissive coating at the firstwavelength to act as a high reflector while an output end of the bondedsaturable absorber has an anti-reflective coating at the secondwavelength.

Statement 23: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein thesub-nanosecond laser pulse is less than 1000 ps.

Statement 24: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, furthercomprising a scanning system comprising a pair of scanning mirrors togenerate two-dimensional microbeam pattern.

Statement 25: The fractional handpiece of Statement 24, wherein ascanned beam incidents on a lens array to form a microbeam array.

Statement 26: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein the beamsplitting assembly comprises a 1-D beam splitter and a focusing lens.

Statement 27: The fractional handpiece of Statement 26, wherein the beamsplitting assembly further comprises an axicon diffractive optic togenerate donut beam pattern.

Statement 28: The fractional handpiece of Statement 26, wherein the 1-Dbeam splitter is operable to generate a 1-D fractionated micro-dot line.

Statement 29: The fractional handpiece of Statement 28, furthercomprising one or more rollers operable to allow manual movement of thehandpiece along a direction perpendicular to the 1-D fractionatedmicro-dot line to form a 2-D micro-spot pattern.

Statement 30: The fractional handpiece of Statement 28, wherein the beamsplitting assembly further comprises a fixed mirror and a rotationalmirror operable to scan the 1-D fractionated micro-dot line to form a2-D micro-spot pattern.

Statement 31: The fractional handpiece of Statement 26, wherein the beamsplitting assembly is operable to snap on the fractional handpiece.

Statement 32: The fractional handpiece of Statement 31, wherein the beamsplitting assembly is disposable.

Statement 33: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein thehandpiece body further comprises a second harmonic generator to generatean additional laser light wavelength.

Statement 34: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein thehandpiece body further comprises a fast photodetector operable to sensethe sub-nanosecond pulsed laser beam and to shut down the pump laser toavoid double or multiple pulsing.

Statement 35: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein thehandpiece body further comprises a homogenizer before the beam splittingassembly to mitigate beam characteristic changes at different repetitionrates.

Statement 36: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein thehandpiece body further comprises a vibrator operable to vibrate to warnor provide feedback to a user if there is any malfunction of the laseror sliding speed is too slow or too fast.

Statement 37: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein thehandpiece body further comprises an attenuator operable to achieveappropriate energy for treatment of different skin types or LIOB depth.

Statement 38: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, wherein thehandpiece body further comprises one or two rollers to guide movement ofthe fractional handpiece and to synchronize with laser pulsing.

Statement 39: The fractional handpiece of Statement 1, furthercomprising a controller.

Statement 40: A laser system comprising: a pump laser source operable toprovide a pumping laser beam; and the fractional handpiece of any one ofStatements 1-39.

Statement 41: The laser system of Statement 40, wherein the pump lasersource is within the fractional handpiece.

Statement 42: The laser system of Statement 40, wherein the pump lasersource is a diode laser or an Alexandrite laser.

Statement 43: A method of skin treatment, the method comprising:generating, via a pump beam source, a pump laser beam having a firstwavelength; delivering the pump laser beam to a passively Q-switchedlaser assembly in a fractional handpiece, the passively Q-switched laserassembly comprising one or more pump lenses and a laser cavitycomprising one or more external mirrors; generating, via the passivelyQ-switched laser assembly, a high power sub-nanosecond pulsed laser beamhaving a second wavelength; splitting, via a beam splitting assembly,the high power sub-nanosecond pulsed laser beam into a 1-D array ofmicro-beams; and moving the fractional handpiece across a patient's skinto generate a 2-D fractional beam pattern on the skin of a patient inneed thereof.

Statement 44: A fractional handpiece for skin treatment comprising: ahandpiece body comprising: a passively Q-switched laser assembly withinin the handpiece body operatively connected to a pump laser source toreceive a pump laser beam having a first wavelength, the passivelyQ-switched laser assembly comprising one or more pump lenses and a lasercavity comprising one or more external mirrors; a beam splittingassembly operable to split a solid beam emitted by the passivelyQ-switched laser assembly and form an array of micro-beams across asegment of skin; and a positional sensor operable to guide movement ofthe fractional handpiece and to synchronize with laser pulsing, whereinthe passively Q-switched laser assembly generates a high powersub-nanosecond pulsed laser beam having a second wavelength.

Statement 45: The fractional handpiece of statement 45, wherein thepositional sensor comprises one or more rollers, one or moreaccelerometers, or combinations thereof.

Statement 45: The fractional handpiece of statement 1, wherein operationof the passively Q-switched laser is triggered and synchronized by thepositional sensor.

Statement 46: The fractional handpiece of statement 1, furthercomprising a first homogenizer.

Statement 47: The fractional handpiece of statement 46, wherein thefirst homogenizer is in the pump laser beam path before the passivelyQ-switched laser assembly.

Statement 48: The fractional handpiece of statement 46, wherein thefirst homogenizer is in the passively Q-switched laser assembly, beforethe laser cavity.

Statement 49: The fractional handpiece of statement 44, including one ormore aspects of statements 1-43.

What is claimed is:
 1. A fractional handpiece for skin treatmentcomprising: a handpiece body comprising: a passively Q-switched laserassembly within the handpiece body operatively connected to a pump lasersource to receive a pump laser beam having a first wavelength, thepassively Q-switched laser assembly comprising one or more pump lensesand a laser cavity comprising one or more external mirrors; a beamsplitting assembly operable to split a solid beam emitted by thepassively Q-switched laser assembly and form an array of micro-beamsacross a segment of skin; and a positional sensor operable to guidemovement of the fractional handpiece and to synchronize with laserpulsing, wherein the passively Q-switched laser assembly generates ahigh power sub-nanosecond pulsed laser beam having a second wavelength.2. The fractional handpiece of claim 1, wherein the positional sensorcomprises one or more rollers, one or more accelerometers, orcombinations thereof.
 3. The fractional handpiece of claim 1, whereinoperation of the passively Q-switched laser is triggered andsynchronized by the positional sensor.
 4. The fractional handpiece ofclaim 1, further comprising a first homogenizer.
 5. The fractionalhandpiece of claim 4, wherein the first homogenizer is in the pump laserbeam path before the passively Q-switched laser assembly.
 6. Thefractional handpiece of claim 4, wherein the first homogenizer is in thepassively Q-switched laser assembly, before the laser cavity.
 7. Thefractional handpiece of claim 1, wherein the laser cavity comprises ahigh reflector cavity mirror, an output coupler cavity mirror, a gainmedium, and a saturable absorber.
 8. The fractional handpiece of claim7, wherein the gain medium is bonded with the saturable absorber andsandwiched with a high reflective coating at the first wavelength andanti-reflective coating at the second wavelength.
 9. The fractionalhandpiece of claim 7, wherein the high reflector cavity mirror comprisesa coating highly transmissive at the first wavelength and highlyreflective at the second wavelength.
 10. The fractional handpiece ofclaim 7, wherein the output coupler cavity mirror comprises a partiallyreflective coating at the second wavelength.
 11. The fractionalhandpiece of claim 7, wherein the gain medium comprises Nd:YAG(neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet), Nd:YAP (Neodymium dopedyttrium aluminum perovskite), or Nd:YLF (neodymium-doped yttrium lithiumfluoride).
 12. The fractional handpiece of claim 7, wherein thesaturable absorber comprises a Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal or ceramic Cr⁴:YAG. 13.The fractional handpiece of claim 1, wherein the laser cavity comprisesa high reflector cavity mirror, a gain medium, and a saturable absorber,whose output end comprises partially reflective coating at the secondwavelength to act as an output coupler.
 14. The fractional handpiece ofclaim 1, wherein the laser cavity comprises a gain medium with an inputend coated with a high transmissive coating at the first wavelength anda high reflective coating at the second wavelength to act as highreflector, a saturable absorber, and an output coupler.
 15. Thefractional handpiece of claim 1, wherein the laser cavity comprises ahigh reflector cavity mirror and a gain medium bonded with a saturableabsorber and sandwiched with a high reflective coating at the firstwavelength and anti-reflective coating at the second wavelength.
 16. Thefractional handpiece of claim 15, wherein the high reflector cavitymirror comprises a coating highly transmissive at the first wavelengthand highly reflective at the second wavelength.
 17. The fractionalhandpiece of claim 15, wherein an input end of the bonded gain medium iscoated with anti-reflective coating at both the first wavelength andsecond wavelength while an output end of the bonded saturable absorberhas a partially-reflective coating at the second wavelength to act as anoutput coupler.
 18. The fractional handpiece of claim 1, wherein thelaser cavity comprises an output coupler cavity mirror and a gain mediumbonded with a saturable absorber and sandwiched with a high reflectivecoating at the first wavelength and anti-reflective coating at thesecond wavelength.
 19. The fractional handpiece of claim 18, wherein theoutput coupler cavity mirror comprises a partially reflective coating atthe second wavelength.
 20. The fractional handpiece of claim 18, whereinan input end of the bonded gain medium is coated with a highlyreflective coating at the second wavelength and a highly transmissivecoating at the first wavelength to act as a high reflector while anoutput end of the bonded saturable absorber has an anti-reflectivecoating at the second wavelength.
 21. The fractional handpiece of claim1, wherein the handpiece body further comprises a scanning systemcomprising a pair of scanning mirrors to generate two-dimensionalmicrobeam pattern.
 22. The fractional handpiece of claim 1, wherein thebeam splitting assembly comprises a 1-D beam splitter, a focusing lens,a fixed mirror, and a rotational mirror operable to scan a 1-Dfractionated micro-dot line to form a 2-D micro-spot pattern.
 23. Thefractional handpiece of claim 1, wherein the beam splitting assemblycomprises a 1-D beam splitter, a focusing lens and one or more rollersoperable to allow manual movement of the handpiece along a directionperpendicular to a 1-D fractionated micro-dot line to form a 2-Dmicro-spot pattern.
 24. The fractional handpiece of claim 23, whereinthe beam splitting assembly further comprises an axicon diffractiveoptic to generate donut beam pattern.
 25. The fractional handpiece ofclaim 1, wherein the handpiece body further comprises a second harmonicgenerator to generate an additional laser light wavelength.
 26. Thefractional handpiece of claim 1, wherein the handpiece body furthercomprises: a fast photodetector operable to sense the sub-nanosecondpulsed laser beam and to shut down the pump laser source to avoid doubleor multiple pulsing; a second homogenizer before the beam splittingassembly to mitigate beam characteristic changes at different repetitionrates; a vibrator operable to vibrate to warn or provide feedback to auser if there is any malfunction of the laser or sliding speed is tooslow or too fast; and/or an attenuator operable to achieve appropriateenergy for treatment of different skin types or LIOB depth.